The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant known by the cultivar name `Fisflirt Silver`, and botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima.
`Fisflirt Silver` is a naturally occurring, branch mutation of `Fisflirt` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,385) characterized by bright salmon pink bract color, medium-green foliage and medium-tall plant habit.
A plant partly displaying variegated foliage was discovered by the inventor, Katharina Zerr, among a group of stock plants of the parent cultivar in a greenhouse in Olhao, Portugal, in August 1995.
One branch with white-edged leaves was slightly pinched at the tip in order to induce axillary branches. A few weeks later, the upper part of the original branch, which appeared completely mutated, was cut from the plant and taken to Hillscheid Germany for asexual propagation, which was carried out by planting several stem and stem terminal cuttings. The resulting plants were selected for uniformity of the phenotype before further multiplication.
Horticultural examination initiated in 1996 and continuing thereafter has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for `Fisflirt Silver` are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.